Economy must be 'defining challenge'

That the middle class is disappearing in the U.S. is indisputable, and the question of whether that trend can - or even should be - addressed is at the core of the ideological divide facing our nation.

President Barack Obama, speaking at the progressive Center for American Progress on Wednesday, put it bluntly: "I believe that this is the defining challenge of our time: Making sure that our economy works for every American."

Our greatest disappointment in this administration is that addressing inequality has not been the defining challenge of the Obama presidency, and whether this weakened administration can effectively drive the debate now is dubious at best.

The battle, however, is not and should not be the president's alone to lead. Policy leaders at the local, state and national level can and should be using their positions to inform a democratic conversation about income inequality and income segregation.

In his address, the president laid out a six-point agenda - some items, such as raising the minimum wage and maintaining the course plotted in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, this newspaper has supported. We have disagreed with other elements of the president's policy agenda, most notably in public education.

Economic policy is extraordinarily complex and can't and shouldn't be simplified to fit into the current political narrative. Democratic administrations and majorities have been just as complicit in creating the current conditions as their Republican counterparts. They all have been beholden to corporate interests that pursue agendas without regard to the public interest.

The president was correct, however, in one important regard: Too many on the right foment and exploit the fears of that vanishing middle class to create scapegoats.

Perhaps motivated by his falling poll numbers, he seems to have regained his voice in the shadow of another prominent world leader:

"The worship of the ancient golden calf has returned in a new and ruthless guise in the idolatry of money and the dictatorship of an impersonal economy lacking a truly human purpose," Pope Francis wrote in his recent "apostolic exhortation."

"The worldwide crisis affecting finance and the economy lays bare their imbalances and, above all, their lack of real concern for human beings."

Candidly, we don't care why the president rediscovered his voice. We're just glad he did, and we encourage all of those in public service to do the same.

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Economy must be 'defining challenge'

That the middle class is disappearing in the U.S. is indisputable, and the question of whether that trend can ? or even should be ? addressed is at the core of the ideological divide facing our